Battle of Nassawen

The Battle of Nassawen was fought in 1915 between the army of the Russian Empire and the combined German-Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian army during World War I.

The Imperial German Army and Austro-Hungarian Army launched an offensive against the Imperial Russian Army forces in southeastern East Prussia, which they had occupied amid an offensive against the Central Powers armies in 1914. The Central army included four Bulgarian regiments which had been sent north to reinforce the German and Austro-Hungarian forces on the Russian front; the number of German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the battlefield were comparatively small, with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians fielding only two regiments each. The Russians deployed six regular infantry regiments, plus a cossack regiment and a Latvian regiment. The Russians were subjected to chemical gas attacks, and they were unable to halt the Central Powers' momentous attacks, which ultimately depleted the Russians' manpower and overwhelmed their positions. The Central victory at Nassawen cleared Russians from the town in the first of a string of Central victories over the next few days.